Activision acquires developer Bizarre Creations

Santa Monica (CA) - Activision today announced that it has acquired Bizarre Creations, a video game developer that specializes in racing games.

The UK-based development company is best known recently for its successful Project Gotham Racing franchise, an Xbox exclusive series. It also created the Xbox Live Arcade title Geometry Wars.

Under the agreement, Bizarre will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision.

It is the second big acquisition from Activision in as many years. Last year, the publisher acquired the Guitar Hero series, one of the top-selling rhythm game franchises.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Activision deals in several genres from platformers to party games, but its line of racing games is kind of slim. The publisher hopes this acquisition will give it a bigger name in the genre.